Horse Pins Ears When Asked to Move Forward: Help!

[SuzieQNutter]

Some horses look lame when they are not forward. This comes down to how good a horseman/woman you are and how experienced you are to know if the horse is lame or not or if it something else. Horses don’t lie. They don’t fake lameness.

A mare at the riding school looked lame to me. I trust my instructor and he said she is not forward yet. Once the student had her forward she was not lame at all.

This is completely different to the work them until they break posted above. With the incorrect training with that philosophy you are going to end up with a lot of broken horses.

When I went to look at my boy he was NQR when his owner rode him, but later when her instructor hopped on him he was fine.

It turned out that he is cold backed, so he will not step out at all until he is warm. The NQR I saw at the start with her disappeared when I changed farriers. He has a club foot on the off fore and the other fore is pigeon toed. The farrier they were using were cutting the pigeon toed hoof back to match the club foot and that caused a very unhappy horse who did not want to go forward.

[retiredhorse]

@SuzieQNutter

This is completely different to the work them until they break posted above. With the incorrect training with that philosophy you are going to end up with a lot of broken horses.

Yup, for sure. In case I wasn’t clear, this is neither my training philosophy nor anyone I trained with. Just someone I overheard.

I think horses that are unbalanced/uncoordinated can look lame/NQR, and horses that are lame can definitely be unbalanced. And some horses that are in the process of getting fit (or still growing) can get body sore. There are also some “serviceably sound” horses where rider ability definitely plays a part in keeping the horse together, where having them travel correctly as possible (or conversely, allowing them to be less straight or through) works to keep them sound/going – but this generally for older horses, I think, less so for 4 year old just starting out.

If over time, they don’t work out of it, or they get progressively worse or show no improvement, then I would question if the horse was actually sound. Or my training ability. Or both.

[SuzieQNutter]

@retiredhorse

Yup, for sure. In case I wasn’t clear, this is neither my training philosophy nor anyone I trained with. Just someone I overheard.

I think horses that are unbalanced/uncoordinated can look lame/NQR, and horses that are lame can definitely be unbalanced. And some horses that are in the process of getting fit (or still growing) can get body sore. There are also some “serviceably sound” horses where rider ability definitely plays a part in keeping the horse together, where having them travel correctly as possible (or conversely, allowing them to be less straight or through) works to keep them sound/going – but this generally for older horses, I think, less so for 4 year old just starting out.

If over time, they don’t work out of it, or they get progressively worse or show no improvement, then I would question if the horse was actually sound. Or my training ability. Or both.

I agree but the mare who was lame before she went forward was a 4 year old and it was happening because she was green and had a beginner rider.

The riding school saved her and another horse and sent her to a trainer as you don’t put a 4 year old TB in a riding school. The trainer sent her back and said why not? She is the most level headed quiet horse he has ridden. She fitted into the school easier than any other horse. It was amazing. To keep the saying true. Only the good die young and we lost her a few short years later.